The Past Era
by st-potter
Summary: Regulus's entire life. His relationship with Sirius & his true self. Would Sirius ever know about his own brother's true self? The story goes on with his life, adventures, friends & leads towards his ultimate doom with a great yet silent sacrifice.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter- I

The Black Haired Boy

It was 10-30AM & the King's cross station was already swimming with the busy muggles, most of them were dressed up in their office attire, very neat & clean & organized & in one word, utterly boring. A small boy with a lot of dark hair & very deep dark eyes was actually looking with a strange sort of wonder in his eyes. This was the world that the boy never witnessed before, although heard a lot about them in his dining room, in his living room but in hushed voices of his parents. Several times, he also witnessed certain amount of yelling & beating due to the fact that his brother uttered the word "muggle" aloud. Now he couldn't imagine why exactly the muggles are supposed to be filthy & unutterable. Inwardly, he had been started to agree with his elder brother that "Muggles are okay, kind of cool, in their own way…boring but certainly not disgusting." But he couldn't dare to voice his thought aloud, especially not now, when he was pushing his trolley, loaded with his brand new trunk & an owl, fast asleep in a delicate, yet magnificent golden cage, towards a brand new world. Yes, at last he is going to be there, going to be a part of it, about which he heard a lot but imagined even more & dreamed the most, "The Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft & Wizardry". A grin spread across his thin & pale face at the thought of it & he quickly stole a look at his parents, in case they were watching him, as grinning is for weak & fools, as he was taught from the very childhood. Now they weren't watching. He inwardly sighed with relief. His mother was wearing a snobbish expression, which she considered as a dignified way to appear & his father was wearing a proud & smug smile, worthy for the lord of the universe. Seeing, that his parents were just too busy to show their proper appearance to the whole world he looked at his 14 year old brother. He was walking by his side pushing his trolley just like him except that the fact that his trunk has got a large symbol of golden lion on the top of it & glimmering red letters, showing the word Mr. S. Black were glowing brightly beneath the lion. He was handsome, extremely attractive & good looking. He too had dark hair that fell on his forehead with careless yet elegant locks. He was wearing a boring expression in his face & now & then throwing a clearly annoying look at his parents. It couldn't be clearer that he was waiting longingly for the opportunity to get away from his parents. Their parents were least bothered about him or rather happy to pretend that the younger one is only their son. After his brother's first year at Hogwarts or more precisely from the moment the sorting hat put him in the GRYFFINDOR house, his parents turn a cold shoulder towards him & in his 2nd & 3rd year he came to King's Cross station all by himself & boarded the legendary Hogwarts Express, that carried the students to Hogwarts, the most ancient & historical school of magic in the world. "Over here Regulus, with me, now pretend to be all casual…like me". The younger boy hastily down his gaze from his brother & looked at his mother. Beside him the older boy smirked loudly. His mother turned her head slowly towards him with eyes flashing dangerously towards her elder son, she said in a whisper & barely opening her mouth, resulting some sort of hissing "What are you smirking at?"

"Well, if looking like being constipated is casual to you then …", Sirius's voice on the contrary is loud & clear, "…he better not follow that", he gestured at his younger brother.

His would be casual tone & indifferent way almost made the younger one smile but he managed to suppress it, because he knew it perfectly that his smile will earn his brother some pretty harsh words & he didn't like that. His mother's nostrils flared up with rage. She turned to look at her husband but found that he already disappeared through the barrier between the platform nine & ten, the gateway which only witches & wizards can pass to get to the platform nine & three quarters, from which Hogwarts Express starts. She returned her gaze to Sirius & added in an ice cold whisper, "Why don't you go first, so that I can save Regulas from your shameful influences." Sirius merely shrugged & started towards the barrier with his trolley & his mother added, "Don't appear in front of my eyes on the other side & stay away from Regulas as far as possible, I don't want you to corrupt our son."

Sirius stopped dead at his track for a moment, and then continued to pace without a backward glance. It was hard to say whether he at all got affected by those words. Regulus wanted to shout for him but being with her mother that was impossible. He hoped really hard that he definitely was going to see him on the platform. After Sirius disappeared through the barrier, her mother waited for at least 5 minutes before turning to her youngest son & gestured him to follow her. Regulus did as he was told & crossed the barrier with apparently satisfactory way, at least according to her mother's opinion. He knew, not to run, as running is also stored for weak minded people & perhaps for Sirius, the indecent ones. But he knew inwardly that a bit of run could make it a lot easier & comfortable. He also didn't clutch his mother's arm for support because he is a brave one & a pure blood. He remembered vividly how his mother snatched her arm from the grip of her elder son, at this point in his first year. He remembered his brother's eleven year old shocked face too. "Ah…there you go my son." At this Regulas hastily opened his eyes, which he managed to close without being caught by his mother. All of his thoughts got detached from himself as he was just staring at the magnificent scarlet engine, fuming great white smoke in front of him.

The platform nine & three quarter was filled with kids of various sizes, pets of different varieties, sounds of different types & parents having different ways to embarrass their kids. 'Yes, now this is normal world', thought the eleven years old kid. He turned his head wildly for his brother. "Oh! There he is…", Regulus whipped around at his mother's words so quickly that his neck got a cramp, but utterly disappointed to see that his father was walking towards him, accompanying a girl of 15 with heavily lidded eyes, long, thick, black shiny hair that elegantly falls on her waist. "Ah, Bella Darling…" "Aunt Wally" She kissed her on both cheek, then gazed down at Regulus. Her eyes were cold & grey & her smile was hollow like a sharp knife. She is beautiful but in a very different sort of way. There is something terrible about her breath taking beauty. "This is our son Regulas", Wallburga continued, "…& this is Bellatrix Black your cousin." She finished looking at Regulus. "Hello" Bellatrix said to Regulus. Her expression was curious & greedy, as if a hawk is looking at a particular juicy piece of meat. "Hi" Regulus mumbled. Bellatrix continued to glare Regulus & that make Regulus uncomfortable. He is used to his brother's disgusted look but that look is nothing compared to this. He always felt warmness about his brother, so lively, so loud, so broad, so open… not a feeling of being stuck in a dingy dungeon with whispers & deadly silence & darkness. She made him feel hard to breathe. "He will do fine…with me around." Finally, she turned her head towards Walburga & then towards Mr. Orion Black. Both smiled & then gazed down his son "Make us proud!" they turned & started walking towards the exit. Bellatrix looked at him again & then said "Want help with your possessions?" & without waiting for an answer she marched away. Regulus was standing there with his mouth slightly open. "Shut your mouth, you idiot." Regulus turned & to his enormous relief he found his brother standing behind him. "Want to board the train at all? Get a move on then." Then staring at his trunk he bellowed to his left direction "Oi! James, Remus, over here…". Regulus saw as two boys, hurried towards their direction. One is already changed in his Hogwarts robe having a brownish blonde hair & slightly taller than the rest two & had a kind expression, the other one didn't seem like a sober one at all, having extremely untidy hair & a pair of bright hazel eyes shining behind his round spectacles, wearing a broad & slightly mischievous grin across his face. He bowed in front of Sirius "At your service." Sirius grinned & pointed towards the trunk & owl cage of Regulus. Two boys clutched each side of the trunk & carried it away towards the nearest compartment & lifted it up to the train. Sirius took the cage in one hand & grabbed the wrist of his younger brother in other & marched towards the same direction. He kind of thrust Regulus in the train & got up behind it just when engine began to move.

"So, this is Regulus I guess…" The boy with untidy black hair said as he helped both Sirius & Regulus to their feet. "Yes James as it was really hard to guess" Sirius replied sarcastically. Regulas grinned. "Hello youngling" James said to Regulus & Regulus brightly said "Hello" to James & then turned to the other boy with brownish blond hair & again said "Hello…". "I am Remus Lupin& Hello Regulas", the other boy said kindly, gently shaking his hand.

"He grins a lot Sirius, nice grinning sibling you've got" James blurted out.

"Yeah! You better not say this within the earshot of our mother, because according to her grinning is ….what is it….oh yeah…INDECENT."

James chuckled. Sirius however faced Regulus, "Well get going then…they placed your trunk…where..." he turned to James & Remus & James pointed to the nearest cabin, "…ah in that cabin. Change into robes at around dusk & you know about the lunch lady…so all set?" He handed the cage of the owl to Regulus & about to follow his mates who already headed towards the opposite direction but got interrupted by a solid tug at the back of his shirt. "What?" he turned around. "Where are you going?" blurted out Regulus. Sirius wasn't expecting this question. He observed his brother for a while & then said "Learn to stand out for yourself Reg" & then after a pause he added looking at the pained & slightly frightened expression at his brother's face, in a kinder tone, "You will be fine…don't worry!" & after giving a rare smile to him he further added "Don't get contaminated with Sirius germs", he winked at him & strode away. Regulus looked at his brother's departure & started towards his cabin.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter-II

Way to Hogwarts

Regulus pushed open the door of the cabin, where two mates of his brother dumped his trunk. He entered & settled himself at the window side sit & kept the cage beside him. The scenery outside was still a bit odd to him as they were still passing London & it seemed like they were actually making their way through different muggle streets & sometimes through some houses & to his utter bewilderment he discovered that the muggles didn't get much bothered about it. "Ah! Must be some kind of hidden illusion charm is placed on this train.", he thought & he mentally made a note of this that he would go to Library of his new school & would give it a thorough search to see if he could find anything about it. He heard about the library a lot from his parents & his brother. Although, both versions were so very different from each other but both confirmed the fact that The Hogwarts library is one of the finest, ancient & informative one. He also heard that there is a restricted section in it & you need a written permission from a teacher to set your eyes on those books. Actually he didn't hear but overheard Sirius mentioned about taking a book from that section without being caught by any undesirables, to a mirror in front of him. He thought, by undesirable he meant any teachers, but he also thought that his brother is kind of obsessed with himself, as he grins & talks to himself in front of a small mirror a lot. He often caught him doing so & once or twice he saw his brother hiding something small behind his back as soon as Regulus entered in his room. Regulus smiled as he remembered this. The scenery outside had been changed to a countryside. The day was exceptionally bright & just sparkling with bright sunlight.

"Nice weather, isn't it?" Regulus turned his head & found a girl with shoulder length wild black hair, already changed in her brand new Hogwarts robe, standing at the cabin door. He guessed the girl must be starting her first year at Hogwarts too as there was no coloured tie in his uniform & her new school robe is plain black without any usual red, blue, yellow or green hems in it. She was smiling brightly at him & smartly walked in to settle herself at the window side, opposite to Regulus. Regulus was a bit taken a back. The girl again looked at him & asked "First year?"

"Yeah…I guess you too" Regulas replied.

The girl nodded & smiled again. Regulas returned the smile reluctantly. "er…I am Stephaine…Stephaine Greene"

"Oh…I am Regulus Black." Regulas replied.

"So you are aware with this world…"

"This world? You mean the muggleworld?" Regulus thought that like him, this girl must be wondering about this curious muggle world too.

"Er…no actually, I mean the world of magic."

"Oh! Of course I am, as if you aren't" Regulus grinned broadly at her, finally getting the joke.

But Stephanie continued to eying him nervously & nervously grinned.

"Wha..? don't tell me you don't know about our world…the normal world…"Regulus exclaimed in surprise.

Stephanie dropped her gaze & started to survey the floor of the train, didn't say a word.

"Seriously? I mean your parents never mentioned it to you?"

The girl still remained silent. Suddenly, a thought struck to Regulus, "Hey, wait a minute! Your parents don't know about it. Do they? They are muggles. You are muggleborn."

Slowly the girl raised her head & look at him. He saw that she blushed a bit & slowly she shook her head, and then dropped her gaze again.

"So, how come you don't know about it." Regulus sighed in relief to found out that she after all was not a muggleborn or in his parents' term "Filthy mudblood." He remembered how his parents warned him continuously against those filth. So he wasn't exactly letting down his parents before even setting foot into Hogwarts.

"Er…I am half blood, you see. My Mom was a witch but dad's a muggle." Stephanie mumbled.

"Er..was?"

"Yeah! She died after a few months of my birth & my dad brought me up. He didn't mention it either until the letter from Hogwarts arrived. Then he explained it to me."

"Oh! "

Regulus didn't understand the full story that why her father didn't explained it to her, but didn't press further on that subject. "Um… I am hungry, aren't you?"

Stephanie looked up & a bit relieved at the change of the topic. She said brightly "Yeah, I am hungry. So do you have any food?"

& without waiting for an answer she started to rumble her small blue rucksack which until now Regulus didn't notice & from the depth of it she took out a package, wrapped tightly & neatly with a brown paper.

"I've got some homemade bread & eggs." She added brightly & started to open the package. Beneath the brown cover a small tiffinbox was there. She opened it & there lies two pieces of homemade egg sandwiches. She lifted up one & offered it to Regulus. The whole action of her took hardly a minute & Regulus found himself sitting in front of the offered sandwiches without finding any words to say.

"Er… I meant the lunch trolley." Regulus said goggling her.

"Lunch trolley? There is a lunch trolley?" & an embarrassed silence fell between them.

"Oh…erm.. well, I thought…" Stephanie stopped, apparently lost of words.

"Ah, I can do with a bit of sandwiches" Regulus took the offered sandwitch from her & took a bite. "It's good.", he said grinning.

Stephanie, looking relieved grinned too & started munching the other one.

Suddenly, their cabin door wrenched open & Sirius walked in, "Hey you forgot your moneybag Reg." Both Stephanie & Regulus looked up. Regulas beamed at his brother as he caught his money bag thrown by his brother to him. Sirius however eyed the sandwiches. "Where did you get those from?", he pointed at the sandwitch, from which Regulus was about to take another bite.

"Stephanie brought them from home" he pointed at Stephanie.

"Ah, found friends already", Sirius said, eyeing Stephanie. She was nervously observing Sirius.

"I am Sirius Black, Regulus's brother." Sirius stretched out a hand.

"I am Stephanie Greene" Stephanie said nervously shaking his hand.

"Er… sorry, no sandwiches are left, I only brought two, didn't know about the lunch trolley…" she finished in an apologetic tone.

Sirius chuckled, "Don't worry its okay." He assured her.

"You have got wizard money with you? " Sirius asked her gently.

"Um…" Stephanie looked puzzled, "We have to pay for the food then."

"Well, yeah, you have to." Sirius put his hand inside the pocket of his trouser & took out a small leather pouch. He thrust it in the hands of bewildered Stephanie. "You will need them" He smiled at her & before she could say anything he strode out of the cabin, shutting the door behind him.

Stephanie sat there, as if, in a state of shock & then opened the pouch slowly. A handful of gold, silver & bronze coins were jingling within the pouch.

"Whoa! He never gives meee money like that." Stephanie looked up to see that Regulus was looking at the pouch with a slightly amazed expression in his face.

"Anything from the trolley dears?" A voice came from the corridor & almost immediately their cabin door was opened once again by a very old lady pushing a very colourful food trolley in front of her. Regulus leaped up to his feet immediately & moved forward towards the trolley.

"Yes dear?" said the old lady looking at Regulus.

"Er… one pumpkin pasty, a liquirice wand & five chocolate frogs please. What about you?" Regulus turned his head to his side, expecting to find Stephanie there but surprised to see her sitting in her sit.

"Don't you want anything?"

"er… I didn't even say thanks…" she murmured.

It took a while for Regulus to understand what she meant & finally getting her, he said "Oh! Don't worry, it's not like…you know… you'll never meet him. Thank him then, if you come on…"

At these words Stephanie got up & moved towards the trolley & but stood there quite helplessly.

"What…. Oh sorry, I forgot you don't know them."

Stephanie looked up & nodded.

"Oh well I can give them a wild try, can't I?" She said brightly & smartly started animatedly to the lady with the trolley, "A bit of these, um…okay one pack of that, a couple of these & five those. " She completed grinning. Regulus gaped at her with his mouth slightly open.

After five minutes both returned to their sits with different sizes of bright packets in their hands. Stephanie's hands were close to explode with so many packets. Regulus hastily dropped his & helped Stephanie with hers.

"Barty Bott's every Flavoured beans, two pumpkin pasties, two liqurice wands, five chocolate frogs,ten droobles…." Regulus finished counting the packets, Stephanie bought, "Whoa.. you must be really hungry…"

"Well, don't want to miss much" Stephanie finished defensively.

They both stared at each other for a moment & then rolled down with laughter.

Without any further ado they started on those. Regulus explained the name of the food to Stephanie while finishing them.

Stephanie got interested particularly in the Berty Blott's every flavoured beans. The way you put it into your mouth, not knowing what would be the flavour turning out seems interesting & fun.

Regulus on the other side declared the beans are a bit girlish & kept sucking a liqurice wand solemnly.

"Girlish…oh yeah? & that wand thing you are sucking is childish" Stephanie snapped back.

"Oh …well, I don't mind though, better than being girlish I guess"

Stephanie raised her eyebrows & opened her mouth to retort back but got interrupted by the squeaking sound of opening door for the third time.

Both turned around to see a girl & a boy were poking their heads into the cabin carefully. The girl has short, shiney jet black hair & a pair of deep brownish black eyes, she is a bit thin & tanned while the other boy is pale having brown hair & is a bit short.

"Oh you are the first years I guess?" The boy said uncertainly.

"Use your eyes Edwin, of course they are first years, she's all in black …& he looks no older than us " the girl rolled her eyes & then walked into the cabin, straight to Stephanie & stretched out her hands.

"I am Martharicka Lewin, but you can call me Rick." Behind her back Regulus mouthed "RICK?" but Stephanie determinedly looked away from him & shook her hands introducing herself & Regulus and then stretched out a hand to Edwin. Edwin shook it & awkwardly mumbled an apology for intruding & threw an exasperate look to Martharicka. Regulus & Stephanie glanced at each other & quickly looked away to hide their temptation of laugh.

"Oh well, it's okay, we don't mind a bit of MORE companies." Regulus managed to say keeping a straight face.

"Ah, nice of you to say that…"then Martharicka added as an after thought, "Black… did you say Black…you mean the pureblood royal Black?" At this Stephanie gasped & looked at Regulus with a kind of disbelieve in her eyes. Regulus blushed a little & awkwardly said, "Er…well, yeah…I mean, yeah I am Black."

Edwin stared at him with a high admiration in his eyes which made Regulus uncomfortable. Sensing that a change of subject could be a wise move Stephanie hastily asked Martharicka, before she could open her mouth, "Er…Martha, so you are a pure blood too…I mean, if you know about the royalty of Black family then…"

"First of all I prefer to be called Rick & yeah I am a pure blood too but not too royal & neither too rich like him." Rick finished smartly.

"Don't you think "Rick" is a bit manly name…I mean Martha's good .. I mean you are a girl…." Regulus stopped. During the entire sentence Rick continued to glare him very sternly with slightly arrogance & superiority in her eyes. After the completion of the sentence, she held the glare with same intensity for atleast a full two seconds, in which Stephanie & Edwin found themselves fighting an enormous laugh by the look of Regulas's face.

"So…?"

"Erm…" Regulas looked helplessly to Edwin, who had already stuffed his knuckles into his mouth to stop himself laughing out loud but vibrating in a very odd way.

"Well, I like the name Rick & I guess I have complete right to choose my nickname for me." Rick finished.

Regulas frowned, "It is usually upto others to pick nickname for someone…"

"Are you telling me there is a rule of that?" Rick demanded.

"Er…no, no rule but it is a kind of obvious…"

"That's settled then" Rick completed with a tone of finality in her voice.

Regulus didn't look remotely happy about it but didn't retort back.

"Oh it's already the time of sunset" Edwin pointed at the window. All were turning to find that it is the time of dusk. "So we will be reaching soon, better to get change in your uniform Regulus."

Rick & Stephanie went outside the cabin while Regulas got change himself in his brand new Hogwarts uniform & then both of the boys joined the girls outside the cabin as the train slowed down. Suddenly, a deep voice from nowhere boomed in , "We have reached the Hogsmeade station. Students are asked to leave your belongings inside the train, they will be taken care of . Only pets are adviced to be taken with you. "

All four of them jumped at this unexpected voice but immidiately were looking forward to get a first glimpse of whatever it was when the train would stop.

Regulus's heart began to race at double speed, 'Atlast, atlast I am here, I am here in Hogwarts.' This was the only thought that was knocking Regulus's brain at the time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter-III

The first sight of the castle

"Hey, what's up with you? You seem quiet!"

Regulus looked up & found Stephanie, watching him with a slight concern in her eyes & at the same time he got immensely surprised to found himself on a small boat with none other than Stephanie, Rick & Edwin. They were gently floating through a giant black lake. He vaguely remembered being out of the train & grouped together with other first years towards the edge of the lake, lead by a giant man , called Hagrid, with a very kind face & a set of bettle black beady warm eyes. As soon as he got off the train & set foot in the Hogsmeade station a strong thought engulfed him, "What if, he won't be sorted into Slytherin?" He shuddered at the thought of that.

He remembered the time when his parents got the information that their elder son was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, vividly. 'Mad, upset, angry, these words are understatements to describe his parents at that moment…' he thought wildly.

He couldn't reply immediately to Stephanie. He swallowed hard & shook his head without meeting her eyes.

"'m fine." He said with a tone that made it clear that he just not in the mood of chatting.

Stephanie caught that tone & didn't push him further.

A movie had been started to play inside his head. He could see the celebration of Christmas, three years back, in the Black manor with his parents & his brother, a fresh first year from Hogwarts. An enormous Christmas tree was standing in the middle of their drawing room & they all were eating the creamy chocolate Christmas cake.

"Regulus will you excuse us for a bit?" eight year old Regulus looked up at his mother holding a still unfinished bit of his chocolate cake piece.

"Why mother?" He was amazed at his own bravery.

Generally, in Black manor children are not supposed to question back the elders but do what they are told to do. He hastily dropped his gaze in his plate, as he saw his mother pursed her lips, always a sign of danger. He moved quietly out of the chair & out of the room. A bit amazed that her mother didn't gave him the usual punishment for his cheek.

He heard a slam behind him & saw that the door of the dining room had been closed . Then the door started to vibrate a bit & again became still, only emitting a black pearlish glow. He immediately recognized the sign. 'The _impenetration __eavesdropping_ charm', he was wondering. 'What is it that his parents want to hide from him but confide his brother in…' .

He stood rooted to the spot. Suddenly a panic began to rise inside him. He knew too well that his parents weren't happy about his brother being sorted into the Gryffindor, the house of mudbloods, blood traitors & emotional fools, as they described it. He also knew that his parents didn't write a single letter to their elder son since the news came & it is the first time that his brother is away from his family.

'What if..' Regulus thought,' they want to punish his brother for it?'.

He adored his brother & loved him very much, he just couldn't stand there and slowly moved forward & leaned closer to the door. His eyes shut & face were red as he just thought with all his concentration about his brother, about what kind of punishment his brother could get & praying hardest for his brother.

He knew that his parents were strict but he couldn't stand it either that his brother would be going to be punished for no reason or for something which was certainly not his fault. He didn't ask to be sorted into Gryffindor. As far as he was concerened this sorting doesn't count student's will. He felt a warm sensation, grew through his spine as he thought about his brother with all his might. The sensation was growing through his entire body, rising up from shoulder to throat & then flowing through his mouth, nose & ultimately halted as it reached to his eyes, waiting quietly behind the shut eyelids, as if wanted them to be opened. He felt a strange kind of heat behind his eyelids, but he really didn't care as he was too busy to think about his brother. The heat grew & it was painful, really painful & then with a sudden burst of heat inside his eyes, he let out a soft cry & propped open his eyelids. He found with his amazement that a triangular hole had appeared at the door in front of him. He leaned closer & peered through the hole & found out that it was no hole but a transparent portion in the door & it seems to overcome the_ impenetration_ charm casted on it as well, as it offered the sound from the other side of the door too. Regulas was too busy to worry about his brother to appreciate the real magic of it.

"No mother…please, please …nooo." Sirius's cry filled his ears.

To his horror he found Sirius was shrieking in agony at the foot of his mother just in front of the enormous Christmas tree & pleading to her as she raised her wand at him.

"You... blood traitor... you family disowning moron... such a stain & disgrace in the name of ancient & noble Black family..." Walburga Black shouted with utmost loathing in her voice.

"...CRUCIO" Sirius let out an agonized shriek & was thrashing dangerously on the floor.

The unforgivable torture curse. Regulus felt numb & hollow. Using this curse on anybody is more than enough to buy a lifelong ban from wizarding world & a lifelong sentence in the wizard prison Azkaban & she is using it against her own eleven year old son?

"And for your Christmas gift you'll get this", Orion Black moved forward this time as his wife lowered his wand.

"A mean to remember." His lips twisted in hatred as he swished his wand in one flashy movement & a large gash appeared on the chest of Sirius, ripping his clothes & tearing the skin beneath. Blood started to ooze down from the wound venomously & Sirius, too agonized & exhausted to react just lay there.

"Chuck this lump out" Wallburga pointed at Sirius.

Regulus pulled away & just hide behind the stairs as the door flew opened & Orion Black threw Sirius bodily out of the room.

He stood at the door & silkily said, "You are NOT to embarrass us in front of our relatives, so don't dare to show yourself at tonight's dinner party." And then he shut the door.

Sirius slowly gathered up & headed towards the stairs to his bedroom. He was pale as chalk white. With one hand he clutched his chest & with other he hold the railing of stairs as he moved. Regulus watched from his hiding place, just watched. He didn't know what to do, didn't know what to say. He just stood there. Hearing a soft 'thud' he realized that his brother was finally in his bedroom. Slowly he came out of his hiding place & followed the suit.

There were droplets of blood on the stairs.

'My brother's blood' Regulus thought.

A huge lump was growing inside his throat. It's hurting. He swallowed & made his way towards his brother's bedroom. He stopped just outside Sirius's bedroom door & heard a muffled sound. He had to strain his ears & he found that it was a sound of crying. Never in his life he had seen Sirius crying. He froze. This was surely couldn't be the moment for him to go inside & comfort his brother. Sirius would be just too embarrassed & without mentioning it, would go mad & probably would thought him as a rude intruder to his personal grief. Slowly he turned to his own room & went inside shutting the door behind him.

"ooooooooooo look at her. Isn't she gorgeous!" Regulus brought back to present with a yank & was forced to abandon the movie in his head.

He looked around at the sound of excited squeak from Rick & saw a great magnificent castle were slowly coming into sight.

The legendary Hogwarts Castle, with her many towers & well lit windows was smiling upon them against the star lit night sky. A fat round moon, so silvery & bright was peering through the faded clouds in the sky, adding a charming elegance to the sight. Regulus smiled & felt warmth inside. Somehow, in the first sight, Hogwarts seemed to be a lot more homely & warmer than the Black manor.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter-IV

A Black sorting

They all were formed in two lines carefully as they reached the land & were lead by Hagrid towards the castle door. Hagrid Knocked the door three times & the door opened, They went inside & found himself in a magnificent entrance hall. The walls of it were decorated with bright chattering portraits. He found that Stephanie was looking at them with awe & gripped his hands tightly, almost painfully tight & muttered "So it is true…there are moving portraits…'ve read it in Hogwarts a history."

"Er… Stephanie… " Stephanie turned to look at Regulus, her eyes were still sparkling with a mad glint.

"Mind to loosen your grip, it hurts" Regulus finished.

Stephanie gave a quizzical look & looked down at the direction Regulus pointed.

"Oh sorry…didn't mean to" Stephanie blushed a bit & let go of Regulus's hand.

Regulas smiled, "No problem, as I can see how mad you are getting at the sight of the castle."

"Oh, well… yeah, you can say that."

Behind them Rick was continuously chatting with Edwin, informing him her own view of different houses in Hogwarts, which Edwin didn't find remotely interesting or comforting as like everyone else, he too seemed nervous taking the prospect of sorting, but just too scared to tell her to shut up, he occasionally was giving a "Yeah" or a nod. But Rick didn't notice this & was in full flow about her saying.

"Gosh! She has a lot to say" Regulus muttered irritably under her breath.

Only Stephanie caught that & smiled to herself. She found Rick amusing & liked the way she lighten the tense mood by irritating everyone in vicinity in her very own way.

"Ahem…" & all looked at the direction from where the voice came.

Regulus saw a tall, thin witch in emerald green robes was standing in front of them. Her hair was tied in an elegant knot & she had rather a stern face.

"Hello Students. Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Prof. Mcgonagall. In a few moments you will be through this door…" she pointed at a magnificent mahogany door on the other side of the entrance hall"…and be sorted into different houses. While you are at school the houses are like families to you. You will spend the leisure time in your house common rooms & will be sleeping in your house dormitories. Any triumph & you will win house points & any rule breaking you will lose the same. There are four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff & Slytherin. Each house has been produced remarkable witches & wizards & is unique in their very own way."

A bell rang & the door on the other side opened. Prof. Mcgonagall led them through the door saying "Welcome to the great hall."

The hall was enormous, there were four long tables situated, each representing one of the four houses & all the elder students sat there according to their houses.

At the end of the hall there is a large platform & another enormous table & all the teachers were sitting behind it. Another gasp from Stephanie & Regulus looked at her to find her staring upwards with an even madder glint in her eyes & with slightly open mouth. He followed her gaze to look up at the ceiling & found that there was no ceiling there at all. It was the clear starlit night sky the outside. He too looked at it with an amazed expression in his eyes.

"Oh! It is such an enchantment. They enchant the entire ceiling to reflect the night sky." Rick announced proudly poking her head in between the two.

"Whoa…that is ….charming" Stephanie said softly.

"Yeah! It is. I wonder though how they do it…" Rick went on, "…Is it a spell or a charm or a combination of the two, I will be only too pleased to know as…"

"And I'll be only too pleased to know if you shut up." Regulus cut in irritably.

Rick raised an eyebrow. "There is no need to take that tone with me, I just…"

But yet again she got cut, but this time, it was by the action of Prof. Mcgonagall carrying an extremely dirty old battered hat & setting it on a tool in front of the teacher's table.

A silence fell across the great hall. Everyone's eyes were on the hat.

Regulus kept wondering why so. His query got answered within a moment as a song had been started to issue from that hat. Regulus stared in surprise.

"_I'm brilliant, I'm smart,_

_I can see through every mind I look at…_

_I've got brains and surely not hearts,_

_as I am the legendary Hogwarts Sorting Hat._

_Come forward, put me on…_

_And I'll be telling you where to be gone._

_You may belong to hardworking Hufflepuff,_

_If loyalty & perspiration are your treasure…_

_Or may dwell in wise Ravenclaw,_

_If you've got wit beyond the measure._

_You may be a pure Slytherin,_

_If ambitious and power hungry you are…_

_Or just be a brave Gryffindor,_

_With bravery in you & a great noble heart._

_But wherever you belong, wherever you'll grow,_

_You will never know in anyway,_

_Unless & until you put me on gently_

_And wait for me to say. "_

The hat fell silent & the great hall broke into applause.

"Now as I read out your names, you will come forward & sit on the tool putting the hat on your head." Prof. Mcgonagall announced holding a fairly lengthy parchment scroll in her hand.

"Aiden Daisy"

A timid looking girl with golden blond hair slowly moved towards the tool & sat putting the hat on her head. In a moment or two, the hat shouted "RAVENCLAW". A great cheer rose from one of the tables in the middle, where all occupants were wearing blue ties & had a blue hem in their robes. The girl hurriedly moved towards the table & took her place in one of the sits, looking relieved.

'And so it begins.' Regulus thought tentatively.

He grew more and more nervous as prof. Mcgonagall went down through the list & the students were sorted. Suddenly, he struck by a thought that made him numb. 'What if, he turned out to be placed in any house other than Slytherin & his parents decide it is another fault of Sirius.' He couldn't thought more. He just couldn't bear another Christmas scene, like the one, three years ago. He couldn't be the reason for Sirius to get tortured like that again & this time he knew by heart that his parents would be going to be more violent. But it didn't occur to him, that _he_ could be the target this time for the same reason as his brother. No, either it didn't occur to him or he just didn't care about it. All, he was concerned, was about his brother. He forgot that his brother wasn't that innocent & helpless as an eleven year old but a bright rebellious fourth year & a skilled wizard. Well more skilled & clever than last time. He was not weak anymore. But Regulus just got too scared for his brother.

'What if, his parents takes Sirius away from Hogwarts, from his friends, from his world, only where he is just too happy & kind of takes refuge... ' Regulus thought wildly '…and sent him to the dreadful school DRUMSTRANG, which is famous for its extremely leniency towards the DARK ARTS and Sirius always hates dark arts, as he heard several times from him during frequent rows with his parents.

' 'No, it can't be it, just can't be it. I have to be in Slytherin...'

"Black Regulus."

Regulus was just too much absorbed in his thought.

"Black Regulus." Prof. Mcgonagall bellowed loudly.

A painful nudge from Stephanie at his ribs, made him look up.

"BLACK REGULUS" prof. Mcgonagall was positively shouting.

With a jerk, Regulus sprinted forward towards the tool & sat on it under the disapproving glare of prof. Mcgonagall. She put the hat on his head with a little too much force. The hat was large compared to his head & fell covering his eyes as well as the view. Regulus waited, fingers clasped together tightly on his lap & turning even paler.

Suddenly the pain stricken face of eleven year old Sirius floated in his mind. A lump grew in his throat.

"Aha, a Black. How very unusual. This one too, seems different, just like the previous one three years ago." A soft voice was speaking in his ears.

'Just put me in Slytherin…please.' Regulus thought desperately.

"Slytherin eh. But you are just not the right one. Your kind is particularly special & easy as you've possessed every single virtue to become a true Gryffindor, every single virtue I must say & not a way you can be in other house. But no quality to be a Slytherin, not a single one."

'Oh no! please please put me in Slytherin, please please… ' Regulus kept pleading in his mind with all efforts.

"Well, you have a purpose, a noble one & that put you in Gryffindor even more strongly."

'No please no…'

"Very well then, if you are sure…..SLYTHERIN" The hat bellowed the name of the house loudly so that whole hall could hear it.

Regulus sighed in relief & with a inner sad smile he moved towards the Slytherin table, which is situated at the far left corner, with a silver serpent logo against a green Hogwarts symbol on the top of it & sank in a sit.

He got congratulated by several people including Bellatrix Black & her elder sister Narcissa Black & a boy, seemed younger than them having a pale face, which is partly hidden behind a curtain of greasy limp black hair.

Almost against his will he looked over his shoulder to look at the Gryffindor table which was beside the Ravenclaws & scanned for his brother.

He found him & tried to catch his eyes but failed as he was too busy in congratulating Stephanie for being a Gryffindor. Regulus couldn't believe that he missed her sorting. How much self absorbent was he. He cursed under his breath. Suddenly Stephanie caught his eyes & beamed, he beamed back, wondering inwardly that how long the warmth of their friendship would last, as Gryffindor & Slytherin are born enemies .Regulus sighed & turned his glance towards the sorting.

"Ivylord Elizabeth" became another Gryffindor.

The sorting continued & then,

"Lewin Martharicka." Rick went smartly towards the tool with a slight nervous face. The hat touched her head & within a moment declared,

"RAVENCLAW"

Regulus saw Rick smiled & marched towards the Ravenclaw table. She first caught Stephanie's eyes & then Regulus's & gave both of them a thumbs' up which Stephanie returned in double with same enthusiasm & Regulus just smiled at her.

"Mcmillon Edwin" & he got sorted into Hufflepuff. He neither looked at Rick neither at him or Stephanie but sort of ran towards the Hufflepuff table & sank into the sit, looking like he was about to be sick.

"Nueduck Huncel" turned out to be a Slytherin. And finally with

"Xaphias Grace" being a Ravenclaw, the sorting ceremony ended.

The Headmaster Albus Dunbledore Stood up from the teacher's desk & smiling warmly towards the students & said "Tuck in."

With much relief at the tiny speech at the time of grumbling stomach Regulus focused on the plate, as the empty plates were filled up with delicious food. 'Brilliant, I am starving….' Regulus thought happily & began to help himself.

At the end of the feast, the headmaster stood again to give a few start of term notices which Regulus was just too tired to listen & was pleased to reach at the time to go to his house dormitory for sleep. A smug boy of seventh year, with a pointed face & a white blonde hair wearing a prefect badge came forward to lead the first years towards the Slytherin common room. The pathway was through the dungeon. He came to a halt in front of a black stone wall. An oval shaped portion of the wall seemed to be glittering, as if it had got dark green liquid inside it. The Boy turned to face the first years.

"Hello, I am Lucius Malfoy, Slytherin prefect from seventh year. Welcome to Slytherin common room entrance. Remember the path & the password which I am going to give you. You are not allowed to utter it in front of any students from other houses." His eyes swept over the crowd & he gave a tiny nod & turned to face the wall.

"Peckish Bart" he said loud & clear. The oval portion turned into a bright green in colour & a green serpent like shape appeared in the glittery oval as the portion of the wall slided sideways revealing a curve way behind it. They all followed Lucius through the way & ended up in a large room with large windows. The windows were emitting a greenish bluish glow. There were several couches across the room of different shapes & sizes & were offering different degrees of comfortness, but all are green & silver. At the four corners, four green fires were situated which were keeping the room warm.

At the ceiling, Regulus noticed a large silver serpent against a green Hogwarts badge, the symbol of Slytherin house. After showing the boys & girls dormitory Lucius departed.

All first years just too tired to speak went to their dormitories silently. Regulus saw that they have got five four poster beds, with emerald green sheets & green hangings, in his dorm room with name tags on them. Each bed had got a green blanket, kept neatly on the green sheets. He spotted his bed & went to it. Their belongings were kept neatly at the foot of their beds. He silently rummaged his trunk for his pajamas & then got changed & flopped tiredly on his bed. 'What a day…' he thought and immediately got embraced by a deep sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V

The first row

Regulus woke up next morning, as a soft heat touched his face gently. He opened his eyes & blinked several times, as the room around him came slowly into focus. For a moment, he was wondering that where was he, as he couldn't find his familiar bed , the familiar ceiling & the familiar room of the Black Manor, in which he grew up. Then he remembered that he had left that manor behind & already had taken his first step towards his independent world, "Hogwarts". He sat up on his bed & looked around his dorm. Last night he was just too tired to observe the room, where he would be spending the most of his time for the next seven years.

His bed was at a far end of the room, just beside a large window. The window is glowing brightly, offering a faint bluish tinge through the ancient wooden frame of it. He got up, moved towards the window & intended to take a view outside.

"Whoa…", a soft cry emerged from him as he peered through the window.

He saw nothing but a clear blue sparkling water outside. Fishes of different sizes & shapes were flowing gently. Their bodies were illuminated & sparkled in many colours. He also saw one or two slimey creatures having a blob like head & sickly tangled many legs, swam crossed the windows. He looked down through the window & saw ghostly brown soil was situated all over the place & different plants grew steadily from here & there. All the plants were light & fragile looking without a strong trunk or a strong base but they didn't need one as they were simply floating upwards from the point, where they were clutching the soil with their roots. Regulus glanced upwards through the window & saw a bright ball of light, gently floating above. Its edges got blurred in now and then gently as the water broke it's stillness in every now an then. He just stared & then slowly realized that, the orb of light is nothing but sun & that he was looking at it from underwater. As soon as this thought struck him, he realized that the soft heat that filled the bed & earlier, touched his skin gently to wake him up was nothing but the sunray, filtered through the clear, cold mass of water. He closed his eyes & was feeling the gentle tenderness of the scene.

"Oh! You are awake."

Regulus jumped out & turned around.

"Er…Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." the boy smirked.

Regulus ignored the apology & frowned. He didn't like the tone of the boy. He watched him as he slid down from his bed, which was situated after two beds from his own and made his way towards him.

"I am Wattley…Aelger Wattley" & he stretched out his hand.

"I am Regulus Black" , Regulus shook the offered hand unwillingly.

"Aha, Black. An extremely pure bloodline. Of course I've heard about your ancient & noble background. All of your family turned out to be most decent & not to mention most acceptable to the wizarding world." The boy continued with fierce pride in his eyes "…Just like my family…the family of Wattley. But of course you've heard about the name too."

The boy threw an expectant glance towards Regulus, that made Regulus shift uncomfortably. Regulus hadn't heard that surname before but he didn't want to say it.

"Er…" Regulus began but got cut immediately by Aelger, who seemed to take his 'Er…' as a positive 'yes'.

"Well, at last we've made it to Slytherin, the _only_…" He deliberately put the effort in the last word "…noble house, left in Hogwarts. My parents will be proud of me." He stopped to take a deep breath as if to celebrate a kind of triumph.

Regulus was wishing wholeheartedly to leave his present company, as more & more time passed, the boy appealed more & more unpleasant to him.

"Your parents will be proud of you too, as I hope. After all, not all of their kids go rotten. I mean unlike your brother, who turned out to be a biggest humiliation & rotten case… "

Suddenly, a hot anger boiled up through Regulus, he jerked his head towards Aelger & locked his eyes with him with a fierce angry glare in them.

"SHUT UP ABOUT MY BROTHER. DON"T YOU DARE TO CALL HIM NAMES." Regulus yelled. His face was red with anger, jaws clenched.

Aelger fell silent out of shock. He looked at the angry feature of Regulus & actually took a step back from him. But he was not the _'I apologies'_ kind of guy. So within a moment he gathered himself together & wore the usual smirking expression just like the time he left his bed.

"Huh! And what are you going to do about it Black, brother of vernim?" Wattley sneered.

Regulus started towards Wattley with clenched fists. Suddenly, two arms grabbed him from two sides. He turned to see that two of the boys of his own dormitory have woken up & they were trying to force him back from Aelger. He turned his glance towards Aelger & found that he too was grabbed from behind by the third boy. They both were so engaged with each other that they didn't even notice the appearance of the other three dorm mates of them until that point of time. Both were struggling against their bindings but remained unsuccessful.

"Give it a rest, you two, unless you want to earn some detention on the first day of your school." The boy from Regulus's right side blurted out.

Detention seemed like to be a too much of a price to pay in the first day. So both the boys stopped struggling.

"He started it…" Aelger shouted. Regulus almost melted him with his fierce glare.

"We don't care, who started it Aelger, but we want it to be finished now or you'll be in trouble, both of you." The boy from the right side of Regulus shouted again.

"Fine" Regulus shouted back as he pulled himself free from the grips of the two boys & marched towards his trunk & found three new sets of Slytherin hemmed robes & green- silver ties were kept neatly on the top of the trunk. He grabbed one of them & dressed in a top speed, grabbed his school bag & then left the dorm room without any backward glance.

He entered in the common room & found that some elder students were sitting here & there, doing homeworks, chatting warily or just stretching & yawning before making their way to the great hall for the morning breakfast.

He silently made his way through the entrance wall towards the great hall.

Entering the great hall, he looked around. He was a bit early he guessed, as the hall is pretty empty except for a few students, scattered here & there eating their breakfast lazily. He moved towards the Slytherin table & settled himself down. He noticed that in the morning, the ceiling, no longer reflecting the outside sky but remained as a normal ceiling. He noticed that like the slytherin table, each table has got their own symbol etched on the top of it. Hufflepuff's, a black badger against a yellow Hogwarts symbol, Ravenclaw's, a bronze Eagle against the blue Hogwarts symbol & the Gryffindor's , a majestic golden Lion against the fiery red Hogwarts symbol. Looking at the golden lion in the Gryffindor table Regulus spotted Stephanie, sitting their alone & eating her breakfast quietly.

"Oi Stephanie! " Stephanie looked up & found Regulus was waving at her & gesturing towards the empty sit beside him.

Smiling, Stephanie stood up with her tray & went to his table & took her place beside him.

"So, had a nice sleep?" Regulus asked. He wanted some normal conversation desperately as the morning's fight disturbed him to the root.

"Um..not bad. What about you?" Stephanie yawned widely.

"Not bad either." & then after watching yawning Stephanie he added "Looks like you can do a bit more sleep."

"Oh! I am never a morning person. Besides, last night, We were up until midnight, chatting & then fell asleep. I've got four dorm mates, Ailith, Daisy, Ivy & Annis. They are really nice & all are excited to be here. "

"Where are they?"

"In the bed I guess. I tried to wake them up & have earned myself a flow of some excellent swear words." Stephanie smiled.

"But I do hope they hurry up & come down now. Surely, they don't want to be late for their lessons." She finished, casting an eager glance at the door.

"So, what about you? Have you made some friends?" Stephanie asked, turning to Regulus.

Regulus sighed. "No, but have made an enemy for certain." Regulus muttered.

"How come?"

"Well, a boy name Aelger Wattlay in our dorm called Sirius names & …"

"Hello you two." Both Stephanie & Regulus turned around to find a smiling Rick, standing behind them.

"Hello Rick." Stephanie said brightly as Rick took her sit on the other side of Regulus.

"I said HELLO Reg." Regulus looked at her with a kind of disbelief in his eyes.

"REG?" He said.

"Yes, Reg. Someone told me at the train that nicknames are to be picked by others so for that person I picked this name. Nice & short & less unnatural. Isn't it Stephanie?" Rick innocently looked at Stephanie with a solemn face.

Stephanie bit her lip to control the laughter & nodded delivering an equal solemn expression.

Regulus tried to look outraged but couldn't manage it & after a few seconds, he burst out in laughing. Rick & Stephanie joined in whole heartedly. Three of them threw their heads back as the laughter issued continuously from them like anything.

"You are…." Regulus started, looking at Rick, eyes watering with the force of his own laughter "…impossible." He finished.

"Aha! Reg & Rick nice nicky namies for two ickle firsties…" uttering this, Stephanie rolled down in laughter.

"What are you laughing at" Rick said suddenly, pointing at Stephanie. Stephanie raised her eyebrows.

"I have got one for you as well…a step with a 'H' that is STEPH."

"Ah, I like mine. Not really weird." Stephanie said happily & all three were continuing their laughing.

"What on earth these two little Gryffindor & Ravenclaw toerags are doing in our decent table?" A voice sharp as a knife & cold as ice shot out from behind the three.

Stephanie, Rick & Regulus whipped around. To his utter disgust, Regulus found Bellatrix Black was standing there with a twisted cold sneer all over her face.

"Ah! What a start of a day, as our table already got contaminated with these little red & blue germs." Bellatrix smiled unpleasantly.

"Oh! No look it's my fault. I invited them over here." Regulus tried to save his two friends.

Bellatrix took no notice of his words but continuing eyeing Stephanie with great interest in her eyes.

"Ah! A Greene, don't tell me you're the abandoned Greene."

Stephanie flushed scarlet & glared back at Bellatrix, with utmost fury in her eyes. Regulus was surprised to see Stephanie like that. Rick however muttered something about not knowing the rule of & tugged the sleeve of Stephanie in the intention to leave the table.

"Don't be a fool. Come on." Rick whispered behind her. But Stephanie didn't move but continue to glare.

Bellatrix was thoroughly enjoying the scene & she beckoned another Slytherin girl.

"Look Cissy, what we have got today. A Greene, abandoned Greene, wants so deperately to taste a bit of royalty & glory that she dared to come down here to contaminate the place with the touch of her dirty skin, not to mention dirty blood."

Cissy, who is none other than Bellatrix's elder sister Narcissa Black laughed out loud.

"ooooooo look at her, glaring at us, I am petrified." Sneered Narcissa.

Regulus desperately looked around for any sign of teachers, but found none in vicinity. Stephanie was actually shaking with anger. She started towards Bellatrix with a mad look in her eyes. Rick was restraining her from moving forwards but was unsuccessful by so far.

"oooo want to hit me?" Bellatrix showed a mock fear. She quickly scanned her vicinity for any sign of teachers as she drew her wand.

"It is time I teach you a bit something now. Something like respect Slytherin seniors…" Bellatrix pointed

her wand towards Stephanie.

"STUPIFY" She yelled. A flash of red light issued from the tip of her wand. But immediately another yell, "PROTEGO" & a white shield had been formed between Stephanie, Rick & Bellatrix. The read light was bounced of from the surface of the white shield.

Regulus spun around to see the caster of the later shield charm & found Sirius was standing there with his wand held high.

"Ah! You need to be a bit more faster Bella. You need to work on your reflexes, too slow I must say."

Sirius said sarcastically moving forward & bodily shielding Rick & Stephanie from Bellatrix & Narcissa. Bellatrix's lips curled out of disgust & anger.

"Don't _you_ tell me about my reflexes SIRIUS, you filth, you….such a stain in noble Black family."

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Noble?...you mean noble? & jinxing a wandless first year with a stunning spell enhance such nobility of yours I Bella, I am proud to be the pure & white stain against such a noble lurking murky Black."

Bellatrix's eyes narrowed but Narcissa this time took charge & with a loathing in her face she placed her hand on Bellatrix's shoulder, eyeing Sirius.

"Show respect to seniors, Sirius" Narcissa said in her steely voice.

"I must ask then, have you earned it?" Sirius replied smoothly.

"Oi, What's happening?" James Potter arrived at the scene & with a quick glance at the scene he seemed to understand the situation & quickly side with Sirius, drawing his own wand.

"Ah Potter…another…" But Bellatrix got cut in as prof. Mcgonagall swept her way towards the Slytherin table.

"What on earth do you think you are doing, making such a racket in the middle of the great hall?" Prof. Mcgonagall demanded in a dangerous voice.

But without waiting for any answer she said, ", Miss Black & Miss Black & Mr. Black…" then with a glance at Regulus she added "I mean Mr. Sirius Black, I want four of you tonight a sharp eight in my office for detention." & she departed without another word.

"That's so not fair.I haven't even said anything this time." James said indignantly as soon as prof. Mcgonagall left.

Sirius dragged Stephanie & Rick by the end of their scarfs & with a last furious glance at the Black sisters he left towards the Gryffindor table, followed by James. Regulus stood there without knowing what to do. He glanced at the Gryffindor table, where his brother along with his mates James & Remus & another short plump boy with mousy hair, were saying something to Rick & Stephanie & pointing at the Slytherin table. Both were nodding silently & Stephanie was rather pink in face, not looking anywhere but at her shoes. For a brief moment, when Sirius glanced again towards Slytherin table his eyes met with Regulus's. Regulus tried to smile, but to his surprise Sirius looked away from him almost instantly without giving any sign of warmness or recognition. Regulus sat there silently as the morning owl post had started to come to great hall with a whoosh.


	6. Author's Note

A/N

I've posted the chapter namely "The Black Brothers" before posting the chapter "The LUMOS Charm", which is the real chapter-6. I apologies sincerely for that. After this I am posting the two correct chapters in right order. Sorry for your inconvenience.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter – VI

The "_LUMOS_" Charm

The ground outside looked green & was bathed in a golden sunlight. A faint streak of sunlight illuminated the dark brown panel of the large window of the ancient charm classroom, just beside the sit. A small wooden hut was in view with a slender wisp of flameless smoke, curling up from the very chimney of that hut. The occupant of the hut is Hagrid, the giant man, who rescued the first years from the train & lead them to the Hogwarts castle through a traditional boat ride. He was coming out of his hut & was going towards the vegetable patch, just right side of the hut. The vegetable patch looked a bit unusual, there were pumpkin like orange orbs, scattered everywhere, along with occasional patches of green plants & some unusual looking reddish carrot like structures. Those orange orbs were simply enormous in size, seemed like a right size pumpkin for a giant man like Hagrid.

"Fang …oi …careful you don' wanna trod over them now…ca'ful." Hagrid bellowed as a big dog came out of the hut, minutes later & followed Hagrid, wagging its tail frantically.

Hagrid leaned down & patted the dog on its head, made the dog growl loudly.

"AAh Goo'boy Fang." Hagrid said affectionately & immediately slipped in a particular nasty bit of dung & ended up flat on his back on the field, smashing two of the pumpkins beneath himself. He swore loudly. Regulus chuckled.

"Mr. Black. What exactly do you find so very amusing?" prof. Flitwick, the charm professor floated to him.

He was a tiny professor, hardly taller than 3 and a half feet from the ground & always preferred to perform a particular impressing bit of "_levito Floata_" charm on himself so that he could float & monitor the class from a good height, during his lessons. He happened to be the head of the Ravenclaw House, as Regulus remembered being told at the beginning of the class, this morning. Prof. Flitwick was good known for his nice & cheerful mood.

Regulus jumped & unintentionally knocked the inkpot on his desktop. With a casual flick of his wand Flitwick cleared of the mess almost immediately. Regulus looked apologetically to the prof. & said nothing.

"Pay attention please." With these words prof. Flitwick floated away towards his teaching desk.

Regulus sighed in relief. He glanced around the class. This was his first class in Hogwarts. "Charms" Slytherin & Gryffindor together. He was sitting with the boy from his dorm, who shouted at both of him & Aelger earlier in the morning. His name was Huncel Nueduck but preferred to be called as Hans. He saw Aelger smirked audibly as prof. Flitwick floated away. Regulus was a bit too occupied with him to actually bother it. He looked away from him & before fixing his gaze towards the prof., for a brief moment he searched for Stephanie in the classroom. He found her within a moment, sitting with a very pretty & blonde Gryffindor girl on the second bench & was surprised to see that she was staring at his direction. As soon as their eyes met, Stephanie hastily turned her gaze to look at prof. Flitwick. Regulus frowned. He couldn't figure out the look in Stephanie's eyes. But there was something in the stare that made him feel unsure. He didn't know whether it was pity or loathing or if possible may be concern. But it was definitely not a blank one. He didn't feel like talking to her since the event of the great hall. He didn't dare to ask what his brother & his Gryffindor mates told her & Rick, in the fear of hearing something negative. Well, who was he kidding? That's bound to be NEGATIVE. He was a Slytherin, a sly Slytherin & he knew perfectly well that his brother loathed this house the most & when his brother met his eyes, for the first time, after his sorting, as he remembered earlier this morning, that one look, devoid of its usual warmth & recognition told him clearly that his brother also became distant with him.

'He probably thought that I am going to be turned out like the rest of the noble Black family.' thought Regulus sadly. But he had no choice. Now he was almost certain that Stephanie & Rick might want to end their friendship with him. He seemed to like both of them & started to think them as his friends. 'So foolish of me', he thought. But with this sadness he discovered that he liked a Gryffindor & a Ravenclaw in the first place, not a Slytherin & before the great hall incident, both of them probably thought him as their friend too. He inwardly felt good that he was more like his brother than the rest of the family. A smile crossed his face at this very thought & feeling light he concentrated on his lesson.

"Now students, if you pair up, we can practice the "_LUMOS_" charm with our wands & I want two pairs in each row….settle down now quickly quickly… "

Prof. Flitwick monitored the class, as the whole class moved to find their partners. Regulus automatically turned to Hans.

Before he could ask Hans, he got heavily interrupted by a figure with a lot of wild shoulder length black hair, which took a slight reddish brown colour as sunlight fell on them. Stephanie settled down beside him & gave him a quick smile.

"You want to be my partner." Regulus sounded surprised.

"Why? Is there a problem? " Stephanie's eyes were fixed on Regulus.

"No…..no of course not…I thought you might have…"

"And why do I have problem?" Stephanie sensed the unsaid word of Regulus.

"Oh! Come off it Steph! Have you forgotten the great hall incident?" Regulus was carefully avoiding her eyes, which were uncharacteristically intense.

"In fact, I so haven't. But that's not your fault. You didn't insult me. It was that complete cow Bellatrix."

"Well…" Regulus looked up before continuing "…she gave you the idea of a true Slytherin & perhaps, I don't know…. what Sirius might have said to you after…"

"Oh, did she? I was under the impression that you gave me the idea of a good friend, Slytherin or not, I honestly couldn't care less. I have my own mind to think you know & I can judge pretty well. So if you are finished with your idiotic blabbing can we please proceed to learn the charm or I rather say, can I _help_ you with the charm as I am sure that you haven't listed to a word of prof. Flitwick & know nothing about the theory part too." Stephanie stopped to take a sharp breath.

Regulus felt warm & light inside. But still he asked, rather stupidly though, "What about Rick?"

Steph raised an eyebrow. "What about her?"

"Er… does she think like you too?"

"Hmmm… let's see…" Stephanie made a mock thinking face "…Well, I am afraid that she will continue to bother you all along & you will have to deal with her usual annoyance for a long long time."

Regulus positively beamed & at last he felt the enormous pressure, tightened across his chest loosened its grip & that at last he could breathe freely again. He had smiled a true smile, that he hadn't, since he set foot in Hogwarts.

"Thank you…both of you." He mumbled.

"I won't say you're welcome" Stephanie winked at him smiling.

Then they both concentrated on the charm & Regulus found to his astonishment that without knowing the theory & just knowing the incantation of the spell he managed to conjure a successful "_LUMOS_" charm.

He turned to see that Stephanie too was successful in conjuring the charm & a beautiful soft light had been issued from both of their wand tips, illuminating the surroundings. Stephanie's light was bright silver with a soft blue tint & his own "_LUMOS_" was a golden light with a fiery reddish glow in it.

"Whoa…see Steph I've done it without your help." Regulus said happily.

"Hmmm…you think so?"

"Yeah…why …you don't? You haven't told me any theory. All you did, to come here & made me feel better & well…happy. What is its theory anyway?"

Stephanie smiled, "Just that."

"Just that? Means…. making me feel me better…?" Regulus looked confused.

"And clearing your mind." Stephanie concluded.

"Ah! Got it. Brilliant" Regulus exclaimed with pleasure.

It was only a few of them in the class, who had successfully conjured the "_LUMOS_" charm and Regulus was delighted to see that Aelger was not among them. He further noticed that each person's "_LUMOS_" had got a different colour in it.

At the end of the lesson, only five students have managed to master the lighting spell followed by the extinguish spell "_NOX_" , which extinguished the light from their wand tip & each had earned ten points for their respective houses including Regulus & Stephanie, which made both of them even happier & they left the classroom together. It was Herbology for Regulus & Transfiguration for Stephanie. So At the second floor corridor He bade her goodbye & headed towards the greenhouse, outside the castle, for his first Herbology lesson.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter-VII

The Black Brothers

A muddy Regulus, from head to toe headed towards the castle, after a tedious first Herbology lesson. They had attained it with Hufflepuffs. Prof. Sprout, the head of the Hufflepuff house was their Herbology prof. She was a plump witch, with a patchy robe & short curly grey hair. As soon as they entered the greenhouse one, their 1st year classroom for the lesson, they were greeted enthusiastically by Prof. Sprout. They were asked to work on a particularly small but interesting plant, which, if taken care properly would grow into a very elegant looking mistletoe & would produce a soft tune while wind would ruffle its leaves. The magical plant was called "_Chimerry Shimmer_". It was well known for its use in wedding parties or for decorating places in different occasions.

"The full grown plants are not higher than 2 feet from the ground but rather bushy & each one has different colours & shape, depending on the qualities of the seeds & the way they are grown." declared by Prof. Sprout.

Regulus found them a bit too girlish. For the 1st day's work, they all had to plant the seed properly & water them continuously. The tricky part is that, the little green seeds were really jumpy & as soon as they came in contact with the soil, they jumped out in different directions in a rather nasty sort of way & that's why they had to pour water in an attempt to stick the seed to the soil properly. Evidently, that turned out to be the biggest messy event in the hands of the first years. They worked in groups of three & Regulus's group included Hans & a fearful and slightly harassed Edwin. Edwin seemed like a bit scared being sandwiched between two Slytherins, while one of them was from the Legendary Black family. Regulus tried to make him feel comfortable, but couldn't managed his best due to the fact that his other partner, Hans, was a true Slytherin & never missed a single opportunity to smirk or sneer at Edwin, who was nothing but a mere Hufflepuff to him & worst of all he _was_ a bit clumsy.

Regulus was glad that the lesson was over. He was starving.

"That was gross."

Regulus turned to see Hans had caught up with him.

"I am starving. What about you?"

"Yeah , me too." Regulus replied as he drew his wand from his robe pocket & started to apply a cleaning charm to clean himself from the mud.

"whoa….you know how to do a _Scourgify_ charm…" Hans was amazed.

"Yeah, well…that's the advantage of being a Black you see…my parents taught me some _useful_ spells at home, though this is my first time with _my _wand." He gave a bit stress to utter the word "useful".

Regulus decided to show off his fellow Slytherins, so that the whole lot of them would think before they would act against him. He grabbed the fact soon enough, that his "Black" surname wouldn't shield him for long time & to survive in Slytherin house he had to stand up for himself. His situation would turn difficult & not to mention the _MOST _difficult soon, if he continued to be friendly with a Griffindor & a Ravenclaw. Hence he needed to be feared & admired by his house mates, _if _he wanted to run the things according to his will.

Entering the castle Hans headed towards his dormitory, while Regulus headed to the great hall for lunch. He spotted Stephanie & Rick at the very instant, sitting & having their lunch at their respective house tables. Both of them beamed at him. With a brief nod to them he went to Slytherin table & sat down alone. Surely he didn't want another scene like the morning & by the understanding look from his friends he was sure that they didn't want it either.

The Great hall was buzzing excitedly with the large crowd of students, taking their lunch & chatting happily. Regulus helped himself with some mashed potatoes & kept glancing around the hall.

"No Potter! I won't marry you. Shove off , before I hex you."

Regulus shot his neck up towards the angry voice & found a very pretty Gryffindor girl with waist length red hair & sparkling green eyes, was on her feet, pointing her wand straight at a Gryffindor boy, with jet black & very untidy black hair, who, as Regulus recognized in an instant was James Potter.

James was on the ground, kneeling before the girl, holding out his hands towards the girl in a perfect proposing posture & seemed like doing his best to confess his undying love for her, but was failing miserably. Sirius was sitting behind him with Remus & a chubby boy. All of them, except Remus were eyeing the situation with great interest & plainly fighting an outburst of laughter while an exasperate Remus buried his nose in a book, in a false pretence to read.

With those words the girl marched off in opposite direction holding her nose high in the air.

"Oi! Evans…wait…." James tried to follow her & in his hasty attempt to get up he tripped over his robe & fell gracelessly on Sirius & Remus, burying Sirius's face in one of the pudding bowls unintentionally. James although didn't seem to mind to be the sole reason of Sirius's immediate ill fate. He, however got up & took his sit beside Sirius facing Remus.

"Serve you right, for being a help…" James added acidly to Sirius & had earned an immediate blow on his head from Sirius, whose face is dripping vanilla pudding all over the table.

"Git…" murmured James.

"Yeah right…but still it's always _you_, Lily wants to get rid off, wants to hex, not to mention wanting to stump you by her feet like a nasty bit of toerag…& still it's me…a git." Sirius added sarcastically, maintaining a solemn look in his pudding covered face, which he obviously considered as a graceful way to retort.

"Well, atleast I don't look like a hair wig, placed on a vanilla icecone AND she thinks about me…"

James concluded with a slight triumph in his tone & wiggled his eyebrows frantically to Sirius.

Remus & the other boy, burst out into laughter. Sirius spared a glare at Remus's direction but however turned to the other boy.

"Find it funny Peter Pettigrew? Then may be I should try this bowl of chocolate pudding on you."

Sirius picked up a bowl. Peter immediately jumped on his foot & Sirius started to laugh as he cleaned his face with a swift _'Scourgify'_ charm & James joined in. Remus shook his head a bit & returned to his book.

Regulus chuckled. He saw that, not only him, but a lot of students were staring at them but none was looking, as if they were watching that encounter for the first time, in fact some of them were staring with high admiration in their eyes but the four of them were just too busy to be bothered by it.

Regulus sighed softly. 'Well, atleast he is happy here, away from the black house which is literally black…' thought Regulus.

He suddenly made a decision, that he just wouldn't let his brother think that he was one of the _rest of Blacks_. He would tell him about his sorting. He would tell him that he was like his brother & the fact that he was quite thrilled to be the one like him. He looked over the Gryffindor table again & searched for an opportunity to speak to his brother alone. Although he liked James & Remus a lot, but still it didn't seem like a good idea to talk to Sirius in front of them. Besides, they two were not the only ones to be there, but the table was sort of overflowing with Gryffindors by the time.

'If only Sirius can go out for a bit, may be to his dorm or …' Regulus thought with a desperation '….may be to boy's bathroom.'

Suddenly he saw Sirius leaned against the table & the other three heads were leaned in too. He whispered something under his breath & got up swiftly from his place & started walking towards the giant staircase, just outside the great Hall.

Regulus couldn't believe in his luck & his heart leapt joyfully, as he too stood up & made to follow him.

Sirius was moving quickly through the staircase, which was almost empty as most of the students & teachers were in the great hall, at the middle of their meals. 1st floor, 2nd floor, 3rd floor…Sirius made an abrupt halt. With a quick glance in left & right direction he went straight to an ancient looking statue, at the base of which "_Merrypie Shunpaul, 860 BC- 1000BC, Witch of metal charm", _these words were etched with golden ink. The statue was situated at the furthest corner of the floor. Sirius bent down & pulled out his wand.

"Sirius."

Sirius jumped & turned around in alarm. He expected a teacher or worse, the caretaker Filtch but found his younger brother was standing there.

"What the hell…I mean… Regulus?"

Regulus noticed that Sirius didn't call him "_Reg_" but let out a formal "_Regulus_". He flinched inwardly but didn't show it on his face.

"I want to talk to you" Regulus said in a calm voice, although his inside was waiting impatiently to see his brother's happy reaction at the words he was about to say. He wanted the familiar warmth in his brother's voice for him once again.

"wanna talk? To me? Why? You have got loads of Slytherin mates for that. Haven't you? Oh, I see… you want a mentor I guess…well, you've got plenty of those too… Bellatrix, Narcissa… very dignified Blacks you see & will be perfect for a Slytherin firstie." Sirius hissed venomously.

"What? No…no…I…"

But before Regulus could say anything Sirius cut in,

"Well, I must say…you are a particular _good_ Slytherin & already has got a knack of setting traps…I _thought_ she was your friend, Regulus …but NO, to you she was a Gryffindor & you've decided to invite her over Slytherin right in front of that hag's wand point in her very first day." Sirius spat.

Regulus's eyes went wide in shock.

"No Sirius, I did invite her & Rick, but I was so pissed off & just wanted to…."

"Have some fun?" supplied Sirius.

"Yeah…NO… not in that way, but…I mean, I wanted to talk…" Regulus stuttered.

"Well, of course not, it _would have been_ funny to you if you _saw_ them to be hexed, isn't it?" Sirius's eyes flashed dangerously.

"NO. Siri please listen…"

"If it was some other first year, I would've straight jinxed him. I've spared you for the first & last time Regulus. Next time I won't see you as my brother. In fact, from now on, I _have_ no brother.I am done with all pure blood maniacs." Sirius virtually shouted out & piercing Regulus with a glance of anger & hatred, he stormed away from that place.

Regulus couldn't find any answer to the series of verbal blows, he received from his brother. His head mind went blank out of shock & he just stood there, wide eyed & with a vacant expression in his face.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter-VIII

The letter

'No not this.' Thud

'Nope not this one as well…' Thud.

'Nothing's working…GOD DAMN IT…' THUD.

"What exactly are you searching for?" Regulus's head snapped up at the voice to find Rick & Stephanie, standing shoulder to shoulder, facing him.

'Oh Great…' thought Regulus bitterly, '… just what I want now, Steph alone is scary enough & now she is accompanied by RICK…my first day's getting better & better.'

Regulus sighed. "Nothing particular…look, I don't want to sound rude or anything but I'd really appreciate if you two….I mean….. I kinda hope to be left alone now."

Steph & Rick exchanged a knowing look, which didn't go unnoticed by Regulus, which made him, if possible, further annoyed.

"Oh! You are allowed to be rude with us you know." Rick responded in an unaffected voice & without paying the slightest bit of attention both of them settled down, Rick just beside Regulus & Stephanie facing both of them, in a particular sunlit corner, of the ancient Hogwarts library.

Regulus glared at the pair of them but resigned from saying anything, sensing that it would have no effect on the pair of them.

"If something's bothering you then you can say it. I mean, it will make sense you know & probably will lead towards a solution & certainly would be a smarter move than slamming all those enormous volumes ." Rick pointed on the old dusty books, lay shut on the tables, in front of Regulus.

Regulus suddenly felt angry. He turned to face her.

"Really? Smarter move…WELL…"Regulus raised his voice but quickly put it down, earning a scandalized & rather disapproving glance from Madam Pince, the librarian.

"Well, I think that butting in other people's business is not always a smart thing either Lewin."

Rick blinked. The use of her surname, somehow startled her.

"She just wanted to lighten the mood Regulus, nothing personal" Stephanie said in a soft tone as she placed a reassuring hand on Rick's shoulder but her eyes didn't left Regulus's face.

"Anyway, we didn't see you after you followed your brother, so we got worried when we saw that Sirius returned without you & with a rage. So thought….may be…" Stephanie trailed off. So they are observant at his every move, Regulus thought resentfully.

"But, if you really don't want us now, we'll leave…" & Stephanie stood up followed by Rick.

"No…er…no don't…don't go…" Regulus mumbled, already ashamed of his sudden outburst.

"I mean…I'm sorry…didn't mean to."

Stephanie & Rick sat back.

"So, care to enlighten us?" Stephanie spoke with a slight stern voice.

"It is difficult….complicated…" Regulus struggled for words, as he felt two pairs of eyes were on him expectantly.

His inside was telling him that he could trust these two recent mates of him. But still he didn't know how to put it. Well, he decided he could give an overall idea to them without penetrating into too much details. He took a deep breath & started.

"I went to Sirius for a casual talk, you know. But… turns out… he thinks I sort of trapped you guys & dragged you at Bellatrix Black's wand point, I know neither of you told you such thing…" he added quickly as soon as he saw Stephanie was about to open her mouth.

"What made him think such foul things?" Stephanie bewildered.

"The old prejudice against Slytherin, or should I say that it is common for anyone to think that kind of thing, if the accused person belong to Slytherin house."

"Well, I can't blame him entirely…" Rick opened her mouth after her uncharacteristic silence for a brief period of time. With a quick glance at Regulus she continued, "Well, I am really surprised at your behaviour though Regulus, it is less like Slytherin. Normally, Slytherins are bound to be snobbish & are well known for treating other houses like dirts."

Stephanie cocked an eyebrow but Regulus nodded silently.

"Yeah! I know, but the thing is…"

"The thing is that your family, I mean the Black family, entire Black family, with the exception of Sirius, are all Slytherins & believe in Salazar Slytherin's motto." Rick interrupted.

Regulus looked at her with slight surprise. "How do you…"

"You are forgetting that I am too, a pure blood, although my parents don't believe in those things & neither of them was in Slytherin. I grew up hearing words against that particular motto & your family name was used a number of times in that context. So I _know_." Rick finished smugly.

"Salazar Slytherin…one of the founders of Hogwarts…after whose name, the Slytherin house was named?" Stephanie exclaimed looking confused.

"What exactly the motto? & why is this sounding like as if there are two types of believers in the wizarding world?" Stephanie looked quizzically to her two friends.

"Because, there _are_ two types of believers Steph." Rick took a sharp breath.

"You know the four founders of Hogwarts. Well, long time ago, four friends, two powerful witches namely Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and two powerful wizards Godric Gryffindor & Salazar Slytherin decided to pass their knowledge of magic & power to the following generations. So they had made a secret school namely Hogwarts & started recruiting students who had the magical core inside them."

"Magical core?"

"Yes, the one that makes you magical & it doesn't depend on your parentage or family. It is an independent, individual & unique chore." Rick continued, "Then at a certain point of time Salazar disagreed with the rest of three & denied to recruit students who came from non magical background."

"Non magical? Muggles you mean? "

"Yeah & then this disagreement started, which continued upto now & cracking the wizarding society into two firm sets of believers. The ones, who believe in Salazar's motto, mainly most of them are Slytherins, believe that only pure bloods are worthy of receiving magical education. They treat the muggles borns & even half bloods as shits you see." Rick uttered with revulsion.

"But, now a days they don't mind half bloods that much though, as a certain dark lord named Voldemort…" Rick winced visibly at this name but Regulus ignored her & continued, "…is rising up & claiming himself as the true heir of Slytherin, who happened to be a half blood & want to complete the undone work of Salazar Slytherin" Regulus completed with sarcasm in his voice.

"Undone work?"

"The purification of the Wizarding Society." Rick said.

Stephanie's eyes went wide. "Wait, you don't mean literally…"

"That's exactly what she meant. LITERALLY by killing or worse owning the rest of them." Regulus said in a disgusting tone.

"It is rumoured that he has started gathering his followers to fulfill his goal. It is also heard that his followers called themselves _death eaters._" Rick informed her.

"So if he started to gather his followers….then…someone must do something to resist it"

"Who says that none is doing anything? The ministry of magic is trying to build up resistance against him with the help of the one & only one white wizard the dark one is ever afraid of…ALBUS DUMBLEDORE." Regulus said with pride & respect in his voice.

"Our _headmaster_ Dumbledore?" Stephanie exclaimed with surprise & excitement.

"Yeah him." Regulus chuckled at the reaction of Stephanie.

"And Sirius is siding with him against his family…?" Stephanie asked.

Regulus nodded with a sigh.

"So, what is your motto Regulus?"

Regulus turned to face Rick with a look of disbelief in his face. Rick shifted uncomfortably but didn't lower her gaze.

"I am siding with my brother, Rick." Regulus replied slowly with a very firm tone.

"Well, had to ask Reg." A faint smile broke in her face, which she immediately managed to hide but didn't go completely unnoticed by Stephanie.

"So, if you are siding with him, then he can't be angry with you, I will make sure that…." Stephanie got interrupted as a magnificent eagle owl zoomed in & settled itself on the table between the three, holding out its leg towards Regulus, to which a sealed envelope was stringed.

"Ah! Sinnie…" Regulus said to the owl. The owl nibbled affectionately on Regulus's wrist, as he began to untie the envelope from her.

"Sorry girl I don't have the owl treat, you have to go to owlery if you want some & looks like you need sleep too." The owl gave an excited hoot & flew towards the owlery.

"Nice owl." Rick said.

"Yeah …she is Sinnie." Regulus replied matter-of-factly.

"Sinnie…sun gift….nice " Stephanie smiled.

Regulus smiled back & started to open the envelop. His face became dark, at the sight of the letter inside it. He started to read silently & his dark face grew darker with a mixture of disgust & horror.

"Reg" Rick called.

"REG…" louder this time.

Regulus slowly looked up, his face was pale. He look straight in the eyes of Stephanie.

"Say nothing to Sirius. Let him think whatever he wants to think."

Stephanie was taken aback. "What? Why? I mean I understand your anger …"

"No, you don't…" Regulus snapped at her.

"It's not even anger…just don't say it…promise me you won't…" Regulus's voice was uncharacteristically harsh. Stephanie looked thoroughly appalled.

"Oh! For Merlin's sake promise me Steph" Regulus practically pleaded.

"I..I won't…I promise." Stephanie said with a confused yet assuring voice. Regulus let out a sigh of relief & looked away from her.

"Is the letter from your home?" Rick asked in a slow voice, eyeing Regulus intensely.

Slowly, very slowly Regulus nodded, without meeting her eyes, he handed out the letter to both of his friends. Rick took the letter & started to read, loud enough so that just Stephanie could hear it.

_Dear Regulus,_

_Accept my & your father's congratulation on being selected in Slytherin house. Although, I could have expected nothing less of you. But this is not the event, for which I am writing to you. Recently, I've came to know a disturbing news that you are being friendly with Gryffindors & I am worried that whether it is an influence of our biggest fault namely Sirius Black on you. I am not approved of the fact that you, our only son is risking his family reputation & royalty by rubbing shoulders with indecent breeds. Choose your friend right & proper. You are always welcome to take advices from Cissy & Bella, who are concerened about you & owled me to inform about your behaviour._

_If you are afraid of Sirius & doing this in fear, of which I am pretty much sure about, just send me your words & I'll drag him out of Hogwarts & out of your life._

_-Your mother_

_Walburga Black_

_(Pure Royal Bloodline)_

_Owner of the most ancient & noble house of Black _

"Her only son?" Stephanie said blankly.

"Indecent breeds?" Rick wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Regulus said nothing.

"So, what are you going to do?" Rick asked.

"I don't want any furth….I mean, any harm to Sirius. He is happy here. He has got nice friends."

Stephanie nodded at the last sentence.

"So what are your plans?" Rick asked again.

"Well, I don't want my mother suspects me & looks like I've got two pair of disgusting Slytherin eyes on me, spying all the time."

"So, you are going to be a true Slytherin & severe ties with us and…"

"I'll _PRETEND_ to be a one. There is a difference." Regulus looked at Rick sternly.

"But, that'd be difficult." Rick continued in a deep rational tone, "…taking the fact that we can't chat openly, can't even throw friendly gestures at each other & not to mention you are expected to bully us..."

"We will find a way." Regulus stated determinedly.

"How? Not every time the library will remain mercifully empty like that of today or not every day we have free periods after lunch, like the first day & besides, if we are not supposed to meet each other after today then how _WE_ will find a way?" Rick smirked slightly.

"We will owl each other, not Sinnie all the time though, it will look suspicious, but anonymous school owls & we will plan our meeting place & time." Stephanie said thoughtfully.

"Impressive." Regulus smiled.

"Fine! You have got any better plan. Feel free to share then." Stephanie snapped.

That sobered Regulus up. Rick however thought it was the only plan they had for the time being.

"Well, we are on our _pretence mission_ then, starting from now." Rick said in a cheeky voice.

"I'm in" Stephanie said cheerfully stretching his right hand.

"Me too" Rick placed her right palm on Stephanie's.

"Do I need to say?" smiling, Regulus joined in with his right palm on top of Rick's.

The three determined & enthusiastic faces were lighten up beautifully with the streaks of the golden twilight, streamed from the large window.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter – IX

The night stroll

_Mother,_

_I must tell you this, that I planned carefully to bring two annoying Gryffindor & Ravenclaw at the wand point of my cousin, to teach them a little lesson. Do not worry about me. I am very clear about my loyalty & my inner true Slyhterin. Sirius can not influence me with his spiteful Gryffindor self. I won't disgrace my family._

_-Your son Regulus _

After writing the letter Regulus stared at it for a couple of minutes.

'My first step of pretence' he thought. With a sigh he got up from the chair in his common room & headed towards the owlery in search for Sinnie. It was almost eight o' clock in the evening. The curfew was about to begin in a couple of minutes. But he took a chance anyway.

He carefully poked his head from the dungeon doorway & quickly checked the surroundings making sure that it was devoid of anyone. He headed towards the narrow passageway that led straight to the entrance hall.

'I just go to the giant staircase & may be lucky enough to find the shortcut to the owlery' Regulus thought tentatively.

He started to walk slowly, making as little sound as possible with his each careful footstep. The journey up to the giant staircase was a bit too smooth for him as he didn't meet the horrible caretaker Filtch or his horrible cat Mrs. Norris & neither faced any teacher during his night time strolling. He let out a sigh of relief & closed the giant wooden door behind him as soon as he reached the giant staircase.

The giant staircase is a broad hallway having a ceiling at the top of it, at the height of the eighth floor. Many stairs were starting from the base of the ground of it. Some are magnificently royal looking, some thin & fragile, some are rope made & interestingly all were moving in there own characteristic way from every now & then. The whole place seemed like a ladder puzzle to Regulus. At the day time when he followed Sirius, he just blindly followed him without paying any attention to the magic of the staircases & when later he led to library, it was like an accidental discovery for him.

'Oh boy! I wonder which one is the right one' Regulus was chewing his bottom lip uncertainly.

"Hey! What are you doing here? It is way out of time." A girl's voice, no too firm, with a slight touch of kindness rang behind him.

Regulus jumped out & whirled around. The first thing that caught his eyes was the hem of the robe of that person. It was blue in the black background. Relieved about the fact that she was no teacher, Regulus looked up. The next thing he saw was the shiny badge, pinned neatly across the robe collar of the girl, with a letter 'P' was engraved on it.

'Great! A prefect…that'll make my night…damn' Regulus thought bitterly.

"You really shouldn't wander at this time you know, it's late & the curfew has already begun."

Regulus finally looked up to meet her eyes. He was shocked to root to find Bellatrix was standing there.

'Bellatrix…wait…she's a Slytherin & the tone is just not like her, it's too polite & well NORMAL.' Regulus continued to think aloud without tearing his gaze off her. His expression revealed a mixture of fear, disgust, yet a wonder & an utter confusion.

The girl smiled at him kindly.

"You are Regulus Black right?" The girl asked.

Regulus blinked, not knowing what to say.

The girl seemed to read his thought & took a step towards him.

"I'm not Bellatrix Black, I just resemblance her." Then after a brief pause, she added, "We haven't met officially before. I'm Andromeda Black, your cousin."

Regulus's eyes widened with surprise & he relaxed a bit. He heard about her from Sirius. Sirius liked her very much & to some extent adored her. He remembered, Sirius told a lot of things about her, in his first summer as a Hogwarts student.

Regulus remembered vividly about that night. It was a wonderful night with a thundering storm roaring outside, bringing a terrible yet a soothing coldness to the burning earth. Regulus always loved thunder storm & rain & was not afraid of the wildness of the nature, quite unlike the general kids.

It was the dead of night. The Black parents were asleep in their perfect bedroom. Regulus often used this time to chat with Sirius about various things, which were considered either indecent or substandard or simply freaky by the rest of the Blacks. Sirius too, eagerly waited for this time the whole day & used this time to chat & play with his little brother in his very own way. Sensing that his parents wouldn't want him to be even near Regulus, he maintained his distance with him within their eyeshot & earshot. Although, Sirius was quite surprised to find that Regulus didn't questioned his distant behaviour & played along in that little pretend game quite nicely without Sirius telling him to do so. Sirius thought that Regulus might be told off by their parents during the time Sirius was in Hogwarts & was quite happy to find that they were unable to stop Regulus loving him. Regulus, on the other hand played along as the Christmas scene was still raw to him & he didn't want a repetition of that.

The door of Regulus's bedroom opened carefully & an eleven year old Sirius walked in to find Regulus, sitting on the window pane & watching the storm outside.

"Hey bro…Merlin you are freezing…" Sirius unceremoniously crawled up in Regulus's bed & settled himself on it. Regulus frowned at Sirius & Sirius laughed out.

"You can watch the storm from here too, unless you have an eyesight problem." Sirius snorted.

Regulus made a face at him but jumped down from window pane & went to join his brother. He opened his mouth to retort back but instead sneezed loudly.

"Oh! Already caught the cold." Sirius muttered with concern & he unfolded the blanket at the base of the bed & threw it over Regulus & drew him close.

"Better?" He asked as he moved his hand in a soothing circle on the back of his baby brother.

Regulus nodded & sniffed almost immediately.

"You are a magnet to cold…you know this."

"Uh…oh yep" Regulus smiled sheepishly at his brother.

"I like it, when you take care of me Siri. They just give me foul potions & show disgust if I…" Regulus trailed off. Sirius tightened his arms across eight years old Regulus.

"You have me." Sirius's voice was deep.

"Not always." Regulus pouted.

"Only a matter of two years & then you'll be coming with me to Hogwarts too."

"Two years…" Regulus sniffed again.

"Oh, it will pass just like that…" Sirius snapped his fingers to show his point.

"And you know what…if you ever get sick at Hogwarts, Madam Pomfery will take care of you & I mean it. Not just shove the foul potions down your throat but she will give it to you with proper care & love , a bit too much of love I must say…which sometimes will make you think of various ways to escape her." Sirius finished with an amused tone.

Regulus laughed out loud. Sirius was glad to see him laughing.

"So, have you met any of our relatives at Hogwarts? How are they?" Regulus asked.

"Horrible. Except one. Andromeda. She is in Ravenclaw & really a nice person." Sirius replied.

"Andromeda…who?" Regulus's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Oh! You haven't heard about her. Me neither, until I met her at Hogwarts. She came to me after my sorting & congratulated me for making into…well into Hogwarts & introduced herself. She is the sister of Narcissa & Bellatrix…the middle one."

"Making into Hogwarts or Gryffindor?" Regulus enquired.

Sirius hesitated for a bit. Then said "Well, Gryffindor."

"She seems nice." Regulus smiled.

"Yeah" nodded Sirius & smiled back.

"Tell me about her." Regulus snuggled closer to Sirius's chest & looked up expectantly at his brother's eyes.

Sirius chuckled at his little brother's eagerness & started about Andromeda, the name which was unofficially banned from the '_Most Ancient & noble house of Black'. _

Regulus came down to the present. So he was facing THE Andromeda. A smile broke into his face.

"I know you. I've heard a lot about you from Siri, I mean Sirius, my brother." Regulus said excitedly.

"Aha! I knew it. I am sorry that I couldn't introduce myself to you earlier. You sorted to Slytherin…" seeing Regulus's face fell, she added hastily "…I can't go over Slytherin table without making a scene."

"Oh!" Regulus's expression cleared up & he nodded.

"I understand."

"So, what are you doing here anyway? I know night time strolling is a favourite _Sirius_ thing & I can expect nothing else from his own brother but I had to ask, see, I am a prefect too." She pointed at her badge apologetically.

Regulus's face lightened up immediately.

"You think I'll be like HIM?"

"Yes. I do. You already are, to certain extent. You do look like him, you speak like him too, and well if we just leave the arrogance behind, you can be considered as the mirror image of your elder brother. But well, at the time of _his_ first year he wasn't this arrogant either & at the time of _your_ fourth year I highly doubt whether you'll remain this polite." Andromeda finished with a wink.

"But I am Slytherin."

"I won't deny, at first, I thought that I found you like the rest of the _elegant_ Blacks but after tonight's meeting I must admit I am starting to doubt the sorting hat's decision. You seem like a Gryffindor to me."

Regulus froze. He didn't want Andromeda to find out that he indeed tampered the hat during his sorting. Sirius, only Sirius deserved to be the first one to know.

"But I am Slytherin & I am happy about it." He said with a little too much firmness in his voice.

"Then Slytherin has just gained an excellent young boy." Andromeda smiled kindly.

"Now tell me what are you up to?"

"Er…well…just wanted to go to owlery. I need to send my letter to mother. She asked me to reply back immediately." Regulus showed the sealed envelop to Andromeda.

"Oh! Well, if you trust me, you can give it to me, I'll send it safely without looking."

Regulus hesitated a bit. He knew that he can trust her.

"Er…okay, but it needs to go tonight." Regulus held out the letter to her.

"Right. Don't worry I'll send it & in future if you want to go to owlery just take the spiral wooden staircase in the middle. It leads to owlery. Okay?"

Regulus nodded smiling at her.

"Come on, I'll escort you to the dungeon doorway." Andromeda gave him a gentle shove towards the wooden door of the giant staircase.

As the door creaked open, a boy, who was bent over something on the floor jumped & turned around in alarm.

"Remus!" Andromeda exclaimed in surprise.

It was Remus Lupin indeed & Regulus was glad to see one of his brother's mates.

"Oh! Meda…you nearly gave me a heart attack." Remus sighed with relief, clutching his chest.

"What are you doing? Where are the rest of the idiots?"

"Er…" Remus mumbled.

"Another prank…I guess." Andromeda interrupted.

Remus just nodded stiffly.

"What are you guys up to this time?...no wait… don't tell me…I don't want to know."

"Wise thought." Remus murmered.

Andromeda raised an eyebrow & Remus hastily added, "Well, you know, if you know, then you have to be guilty about the fact that you didn't stop us or give us in, despite of being a prefect & you are just too kind to give us in, I mean…"

"I exactly know what you did mean Lupin."

Remus looked at her nervously with an odd apologetic smile plastered in his face. Then he caught sight of Regulus. He looked at her questioningly.

At a quick glance at Regulus she replied, "Oh! He is with me. Got caught, out of bed. What else can you expect from Siri's brother?"

"Ah, yeah, nothing less." Remus smiled broadly now & looking at Regulus He added "…in your second night? Seriously?"

"Yeah _Sirius_ly" Regulus replied making both Remus & Andromeda to chuckle.

"Hey, just shove off before I change my mind & give you detention Remus."

Remus looked back at Andromeda.

"Oh I know you'll never put me in detention & you too, know it just too well." Remus replied.

"Fine, in that case, I need to rephrase, scram, before somebody else come here & I have to put you in detention." Andromeda snapped back.

"Good point. See you at morning then…" Then throwing a swift smile in Regulus's direction he added "See you Regulus." & headed towards the wooden door behind them.

"Avoid the second corridor, Peeves is in there…" Andromeda yelled behind him, as Remus disappeared inside the giant staircase shouting back a hasty thanks to her.

Regulus reached at the Dungeon doorway with Andromeda.

"Here you go."

"Bye & thanks for…everything." Regulus said sincerely.

"Oh you are welcome little cousin. Take care of yourself. Okay?"

Then giving a fleeting hug & kissing his brow Andromeda left. Regulus stood there, feeling happy about everything.

'She is really nice. Siri was right about her.' Regulus thought happily. He also noticed that Remus, one of Sirius's best mates, treated him nicely. He actually agreed with Andromeda that he was like his brother. 'That means,…' Regulus thought, '…Siri didn't tell his friends about their afternoon encounter. But why?' Regulus didn't understand whether it was a good thing or bad thing. He couldn't decide whether to be happy or sad about it. True, he liked it but if that meant that Sirius was regretting his action, then he would come to him to comfort him & knowing his brother, Regulus was certain that, if he would decide to come to him, he would do it personally & not by means of letters & certainly Sirius would not care whether Bellatrix or Narcissa or the whole bunch of Slimy Slytherins would stand in the scene or not & if one of them would witness Sirius's niceness towards him, another letter would go to Walburga Black & Sirius would be dragged out of Hogwarts.

'No, I can't let this happen.' Regulus thought aloud, with a fierce firmness & determination as he entered Slytherin common room & made his way towards the Boys dormitory.


End file.
